


The Hero of Spirits

by Windthief



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, linked universe au - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Pure beauty, Spirit Tracks is amazing, and the soundtrack?, but anyways ST deserves more recognition, i love it, just saying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27640627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windthief/pseuds/Windthief
Summary: A Linked Universe story where Spirit Tracks Link is his own character because why not.I mainly just wrote this for myself because I really love ST but uhhh- I hope you enjoy?
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 45
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware that in the official/original LU comic by jojo56830 Wind is a combination of WW/PH and ST Link but I wanted to write something where ST Link is a separate character.
> 
> I've seen a few other people draw/write concepts of ST Link as part of the LU gang but this is my own take on it.
> 
> Also: as far as I know ST Link doesn't have an official hero title. I've seen him called the Hero of Trains, Hero of Tracks, and Hero of Spirits. I personally like Hero of Spirits best so that's what I'm using.

Link sat on a bench in Castle Town near the train station. As far as he knew he didn’t have any appointments to pick anyone up so he was taking a moment to relax a bit, looking up at Hyrule Castle’s spires. He wondered how Zelda was doing; he hadn’t seen her in a while, as her royal duties and his engineering job had been keeping them both busy.

Humming a tune to himself, Link pulled his eyes away from the castle to scan the town. There were a few people bustling about, but overall it was pretty empty. He watched a stray cucco hop around, startling a group of people. One person from the group bent down and gently picked the cucco up, cradling it in his arms. Link was surprised at how calm the cucco acted, then snickered to himself as the person’s companions stumbled back hastily when the figure held the bird out towards them.

Words floated through the air towards Link’s ears, though he could only make out a few. Something about cuccos and evil. The person holding the cucco shrugged to his companions, then walked off a bit to release the cucco a safe distance away before rejoining the group.

It was only then that Link realized how strange the people looked. They were equipped with armor and weapons, one had pink hair, and two looked like they had face markings but Link couldn’t quite tell from his distance. Link had never seen people like that in all of New Hyrule, and he’d been around the continent, both during his quest and after. He debated on going up and saying hi but was too intimidated to do so. Besides, they looked like important people and he didn’t want to bother them.

Link was about to go back to gazing at the castle when he noticed one of the figures pointing at him; one with a long, bright blue scarf. Link froze. Had he been staring too intently? Were they mad? Much to his horror, the group made its way towards him. Link didn’t want to come off as rude, so as they approached he slid off the bench and stood straight, at attention.

“Is your name Link?” the tallest in the group immediately asked. Link shrunk slightly under his one-eyed gaze and internally noted that he’d been right about the face markings. He wanted to study the others’ faces as well, but he kept his attention focused on the one who had addressed him.

“Yes, sir,” Link gave a polite nod. He could feel the entire group’s eyes on him. How many people were in that group, anyway? Six? Seven? Link desperately wanted to run away when the one-eyed man regarded him with a curious intensity, but he stayed put. It would be rude and suspicious to run away in the middle of a conversation. And who knows, maybe they were just looking for a ride.

When no one spoke for about a minute, Link awkwardly and quietly cleared his throat. “Do you need anything?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady as his two eyes stayed locked on the man’s one.

The question seemed to go unheard, and Link was about to take his chances and sidle away when someone else spoke. 

“Have you, by any chance, gone on an adventure or quest within the past few years?” Link shifted his gaze to the one who had asked the question; the one who had been holding the cucco earlier. He was much easier to keep eye contact with. In fact, it looked like the cucco-tamer was the one struggling to not let his gaze wander.

Now it was Link’s turn to be silent. Why did _they_ care? And more importantly, how did they _know?_ Sure, Link’s adventure hadn’t gone unnoticed by the residents of New Hyrule, but as he’d noted earlier Link had never seen these people before. He guessed someone could have told them, but even then, what did it have to do with anything? His quest had happened nearly two years ago. Nowadays he just transported people and goods across the continent as a simple engineer. 

Well, more or less simple. Admittedly, he carried a sword and shield with him, and still had all his items, but that was just for precaution. The monsters had vanished after he and Zelda had defeated Malladus but recently they’d been reappearing, some stronger than before. Was that why these people were here? To deal with the monsters? They sure looked strong enough to handle them. But even then Link couldn’t figure out what that had to do with his journey. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and refocused his eyes on the cucco-tamer, who by this point had shifted his gaze onto something else.

“Sorry, I got lost in thought,” he apologized quickly. “To answer your question, yes, I have. Almost two years ago. May I ask why you need to know?”

This time Link let his eyes wander from person to person as he waited for a response. He quickly counted that there were nine of them. They all seemed to share some resemblance to each other. Link noted that one of them looked an awful lot like he did, but with tanned skin and sun-bleached hair. His eyes were also a different shade of green but their shape was nearly identical to Link’s.

The one-eyed man spoke up. “It’s… a bit complicated. Have you heard any stories about past heroes?”

Again, Link didn’t understand what that had to do with anything, but he nodded. “The Hero of Wind. He founded New Hyrule a hundred years ago, after he defeated Ganondorf.”

The person who looked like Link gasped loudly. “That’s me! I’m the Hero of Wind! You must be my successor! That’s so cool!! I didn’t know I had one!” he blurted out, quickly getting shushed by his pink-haired companion. “Don’t just tell him that!” he hissed slightly.

Link furrowed his brow suspiciously. “That’s not possible. The Hero of Wind died before I was born.” 

“It’s confusing, but technically we’re all heroes, from different points in time,” the self-proclaimed Hero of Wind said, gesturing to his companions and ignoring the pink-haired one’s angry “You’re not explaining well enough!”

Link didn’t understand. He wasn’t surprised at the possibility of more heroes before the Hero of Wind, but why were these people claiming to be them? Were they trying to trick him? If so, why? Link didn’t have much to offer. Unless... 

He considered the possibility that they were trying to get to Zelda through him. Their friendship _was_ pretty well known across the continent. 

Link’s left hand twitched slightly as he debated on drawing his sword. There was no way he could take all nine of the supposed heroes at once. He considered his boomerang; maybe throwing that would be enough of a distraction. And right now, with the ‘heroes’ quietly arguing amongst themselves about how to best explain something about reincarnations, portals, and someone named Fi, he might have a chance to get away.

He backed away slightly, his left hand reaching into the magic pouch where he stored his items. By now someone had said something that someone else took as an insult and now their argument was increasing in volume and nobody was paying attention to him anymore. Good. He might not have to use his boomerang after all. Just in case, though, he pulled it out before turning tail and running as fast as he could towards the castle.

It didn’t take long for the ‘heroes’ to notice he’d left, and the sounds of them shouting for him to come back soon reached his ears. He realized that going to the castle was a bit stupid if the ‘heroes’ _were_ after Zelda; Link was leading them right to her. Hopefully, though, the castle guards would be able to stall his pursuers and he’d be able to warn Zelda and get her to safety.

Unfortunately, though, the pink-haired ‘hero’ was fast. Unnaturally fast. He quickly caught up and swerved in front of Link before skidding to a stop, his arms outstretched to block the engineer. Without really thinking, Link instinctively threw his boomerang. Hard. A bit too hard, he realized, as it hit the pink-haired person in the face and knocked him unconscious. 

Oops. 

But also not, since Link _was_ trying to get away.

He caught his boomerang when it obediently returned and continued running, passing through a stone archway and into the castle’s courtyard. He made a beeline towards the castle’s front doors. The guards stationed around the entrance gave Link a confused look, but let him pass; they knew him well enough and Zelda had given him permission to come and go as he pleased. Those seven -one had stayed behind to check on Pink Hair- strange men chasing after the young boy, on the other hand…

Once Link had made it into the castle, the guards positioned themselves in front of the doors, their weapons drawn. Link briefly heard them telling the ‘heroes’ to state their business before he was out of hearing range, racing up steps and through corridors. He burst into Zelda’s room, barely slowing down before hurrying over to where Zelda sat at her desk, surrounded by stacks of paper.

“Link! It’s good to see you! Wait, wh-”

Zelda was cut off as Link grabbed her wrist and dragged her back out the door he’d nearly knocked off its hinges. Thankfully, Zelda didn’t resist and sped up her pace to match Link’s.

“Some people are chasing me and I think they might be after you so I’m taking you to the Tower of Spirits where you’ll be safe!” Link explained quickly between gasps of breath. Zelda furrowed her brow in thought, but didn’t say anything. She followed Link to the castle’s back entrance, where the guard gave them a curt nod and let them pass. Once outside, the two of them made their way to the tunnel that led to the Tower or Spirits. 

Link and Zelda slowed down a bit once they were in the dark, damp tunnel to catch their breath, but they didn’t fully stop. Still keeping up a brisk walk, Zelda turned to Link.

“You said you think someone is after me?” she asked, panting slightly. “Has Chancellor Cole somehow returned?”

Link shook his head. “I don’t think they have anything to do with Cole, and to be honest I don’t know for sure if they’re after you,” he admitted a bit sheepishly. “But they looked really strong and fierce and I’ve never seen anyone like them before. They were asking about our quest and they claimed to be past heroes, and obviously that’s insane, so I didn’t trust them, and I was worried that they were trying to use me to get to you.”

Zelda nodded, but she looked a bit lost in thought. “Your suspicion is understandable.” She then turned and gave Link a broad smile. “Good thinking to go to the Tower! Even if they do manage to get to it they don’t know their way around it like we do.”

Link returned the smile in the dim light, glad that Zelda thought his plan was a good one. “I hope I didn’t take you away from anything important.”

“No, you’re all good. I was just doing some paperwork. Well, I was _supposed_ to be doing paperwork. I ended up just drawing instead,” she laughed slightly. “That’s why I went along with you so willingly. Anything to get me away from that desk.”

Link replied with a chuckle and then realized he was still tightly gripping Zelda’s wrist. He relaxed his hold and shifted his hand to interlock fingers with his companion instead. Zelda gently squeezed Link’s hand in acknowledgement.

The two continued on in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m sorry, sirs, but we can’t let you in on unofficial business,” the large guard said curtly, his spear raised.

Time sighed and dragged a hand along his face. The portal had taken him and the others to this world for a reason, and that reason was no doubt to retrieve the Link they’d encountered. These guards were just making their job harder. But, admittedly, the heroes did look pretty threatening, especially in such a peaceful town as this one.

Time backed away and turned to his companions. “I think it’s best if we just leave for now; even if we could get inside we have no clue where the Link went,” he whispered so the guards wouldn’t hear. Time’s fellow heroes nodded in agreement.

“We’re sorry for any trouble we might have caused,” Time gave the guards an apologetic bow before the group of seven headed back the way they’d come, the guards watching them closely in case they decided to turn around and attack.

Back in Castle Town -or at least, that’s what they assumed it was- they found Legend leaning against a wall with Hyrule gently rubbing his forehead, his hands glowing slightly as he used his healing magic. The two of them turned as the others approached and Hyrule flashed them a smile in greeting, but then frowned slightly when he realized the new Link wasn’t with them. “He got away?”

Time nodded, then glanced at Legend. “You okay there?”

Legend nodded slightly and winced at the motion. “Can’t believe he hit me so hard,” he muttered irritably.

“He was panicking,” Time reasoned. “Using the Pegasus Boots to catch up was a pretty good idea, though.” 

Legend smiled wryly before a distorted _woosh!_ to the group’s side caused them all to turn in surprise. They were greeted by the familiar sight of a swirling purple archway.

“Why would a portal open now?” Four asked no one in particular. “We didn’t retrieve this era’s Link.”

The others just shrugged.

“Well, Time? Do we go in?” Twilight glanced at his predecessor after a moment of silence that was spent staring at the portal.

Time tilted his head to the side, thinking. “Four’s right that we haven’t retrieved what we’re after, but we don’t know where the new Link is right now. If he really needs to join us, I’m sure the portals will lead us back here eventually,” he mused. “I say we go in. I can go first.”

The Hero of Time stepped forward through the archway. For what felt like just a moment, yet forever, he was suspended in nothing but thick darkness. Time had no clue how long he was in the abyss, but he eventually stumbled out onto… stairs? A quick look around confirmed that. He was about halfway up a spiraling staircase inside an extremely tall, dimly lit building. A tower of some sort. 

Time’s companions joined him soon after, the portal disappearing behind them. Once everyone had gotten a good look at their surroundings, they realized that none of them recognized where they were. They could’ve easily just been in a building they’d never set foot in before, but not even the air felt familiar to any of them.

“Are we still in the other Link’s world?” Wind ventured, peering up. The stairs went on for a _long_ time.

“I guess that’s a possibility,” Time muttered. “But the portals have never taken us to a different part of the same world like this, have they?”

Warriors suddenly snapped his fingers and his face lit up as he remembered something. “It happened a few times when we were trying to recruit Wild. Wild kept evading us, so the portal would spit us out near where we could find him.”

Time blinked a few times as the memory came back. It had been a while since they’d found Wild and he’d nearly forgotten all about those weird instances. “Ah- that’s right.”

Wild narrowed his eyes. “Oh, yeah, I remember that… You guys nearly gave me a heart attack that one time when you appeared in my _house._ ”

Warriors laughed. “The look on your face was priceless.” 

Wild huffed and glared slightly.

Time cleared his throat to get their attention. “Back to portals- if this _is_ the same world as before, then we need to be on the lookout for the new Link.”

“There he is!” Wind said, leaning over the staircase’s railing and pointing down. At the base of the staircase -which was quite a ways away- two figures had appeared. One was definitely the same boy they’d encountered earlier. The other…

“Is that Zelda? She looks kind of like my Zelda,” Wind squinted at the second person.

“I thought yours went by Tetra?” Sky asked, confused.

“Yes, but technically she’s still Zelda and when she’s dressed up all fancy she looks like that.”

“It doesn’t really matter who it is,” Legend huffed. Despite Hyrule’s magic from earlier, his forehead had a large bruise on it. He didn’t seem to care, though. “We’re only here for Link.”

“No need to be so insensitive,” Hyrule flashed his friend a frown. “If it is Zelda then maybe we can explain to her what’s going on so she won’t worry so much about her Link when he joins us.” He paused. “Or, on the other hand, she’ll be even more worried. But no matter; let’s go say hi!” He started down the stairs, his feet tapping lightly.

“Hold up, ’Rule,” Twilight grabbed Hyrule’s arm to stop him. “Last time we scared him. We should let him come to us.”

“He _is_ coming this way,” Sky noted.

“He probably hasn’t seen us yet. With the angle he’s at we’re blocked by the underside of the stairs,” Four pointed out.

“Maybe just one of us should go down,” Wind suggested.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Time agreed. “You should go, Wind. You’re his predecessor.”

“Wh- but I’m terrible at explaining this stuff!”

“That you are,” Legend muttered, receiving a jab in his side from Hyrule.

“You don’t need to explain everything,” Time assured the youngest hero. “Or anything, if it’s too hard. Just try to talk to him without scaring him off.”

Wind shuffled his feet nervously. “Won’t he freak out just from seeing me? I mean, I just teleported ahead of him! Like Wild said, having someone randomly appear is scary!”

Wild nodded in agreement.

“And like Wild, he won’t be able to avoid us forever,” Time pointed out. “Just go on down. And don’t take out any weapons or items, unless in self-defense.”

Wind wrung his hands together nervously, not moving.

“Hurry, before he sees all of us!” Warriors gently shoved Wind, forcing him to stagger down a few steps.

Letting out a nervous whimper, Wind headed down the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slams fist against table* HEADCANON TIME!
> 
> Okay so you know how Phantom Zelda's eyes are pink? It's probably just to go along with her color palette, but! Consider: When Zelda's spirit was separated from her body some of Cole's dark magic unknowingly seeped into her spirit, which is what allows her to possess phantoms. (It's not enough magic to corrupt her though.) The magic also changed her eye color to pink because WHY HEKKIN NOT. I also imagine that Cole had to fill Zelda's body with dark magic to allow Malladus to enter it since otherwise it's a vessel of light and I don't think a demon can normally enter a body like that. So. In conclusion: Spirit Tracks Zelda has pink eyes and you can't tell me otherwise.
> 
> On a different note I also headcanon that Zelda's time as a ghost strengthened her connection to spirits in general and that now she can sense peoples' auras.
> 
> Anyways that's all. 
> 
> Thanks for coming to my TED Talk and have a nice day :)

Link and Zelda had made it to the Tower of Spirits not too long ago. Still paranoid that the ‘heroes’ would somehow find them, Link had insisted on heading into one of the dungeon floors to hide. Ever since Anjean and the other Lokomos returned to the heavens the phantoms that normally guarded the Tower had become lifeless and disappeared, which meant that Link and Zelda wouldn’t have to deal with avoiding them, which was an upside.

Because of the lack of phantoms, Link had expected to slip into one of the dungeons and hide without any problems.

What he hadn’t expected was the supposed ‘Hero of Wind’ coming down the stairs.

Link abruptly stopped and drew the Lokomo Sword with his left hand, his right hand still holding Zelda’s. He slowly backed down the stairs they’d already climbed, keeping his eyes locked on the approaching ‘hero.’

“Is that one of the people who was chasing you?” Zelda asked quietly. 

Link nodded.

“He looks a lot like you… And how did he get here before us?”

“I don’t know,” Link whispered back, gripping his sword tighter. “I also don’t know why he’s alone; last time there were nine, including him.” Link cast a glance over his shoulder, worried that the others were behind him, waiting to strike.

Zelda gave his hand a comforting squeeze. “Maybe we should talk to him. He hasn’t taken out any weapons,” she noted. “And he looks pretty nervous, too; I don’t think he’ll hurt us. Actually...” She turned to lock her intensely pink eyes with Link’s greenish-brown. “I sense something from him, something I can sense from you, too. He won’t hurt us. We can trust him.”

Link gave her a confused look, then cast a wary glance up at the ‘hero.’ He sighed, then sheathed his sword. He trusted Zelda, and he knew she had some sort of weird spirit powers that only seemed to have grown since their adventure together. The past few months she’d been able to sense certain locations where monsters had appeared because of their ‘tainted spirits’ or something like that. If she thought that this ‘hero’ was safe, then he probably was.

However, Link refused to walk up to meet him, so the two of them waited until the ‘hero’ stood about ten steps away from them. The ‘hero’ cleared his throat nervously, wringing his hands together. He stared at Zelda for a while -which Link didn’t appreciate- before finally talking.

“Why are your eyes pink?” the ‘hero’ blurted out, quickly covering his mouth after he realized what he’d said.

Link and Zelda shared a confused, and slightly amused, look.

The ‘hero’ lowered his hands. “I-I’m sorry, that was stupid, it’s just that I’ve never seen anyone with pink eyes before,” he apologized, his face turning red with embarrassment as he focused his eyes on the ground.

“It’s fine,” Zelda assured him. “I don’t know why my eyes are pink. They used to be blue, but almost two years ago they changed.”

Link nodded to confirm. Zelda’s eyes had indeed been blue when he’d first met her, but after her spirit was separated from her body they turned pink. At first Zelda panicked over it, but honestly, neither of them cared enough to look into the cause for it. Zelda’s pink eyes weren’t affecting anything or anyone, so it didn’t matter. Besides, Link thought they looked cool. And pretty. Not that her blue eyes hadn’t been cool or pretty, but there was something about the pink that Link really liked.

“Oh. W-well, anyways, uh…” the ‘hero’ started, then trailed off. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I don’t really know how to best explain this stuff to you, Link, but I wasn’t lying when I said I was the Hero of Wind.” He glanced up nervously to meet Link’s eyes. 

Link raised an eyebrow. He knew Zelda trusted the supposed ‘hero,’ so Link was doing his best to trust him as well, but with that sort of talk Link was having a hard time doing so. Zelda squeezed Link’s hand, as if encouraging him to believe his look-alike. Link let out a small sigh.

“How can you be the Hero of Wind if he died decades ago?” Link challenged. “And your companions- you said they were heroes, too, from different points in time. How is that possible?”

The ‘hero’ shuffled his feet nervously. “Like I said, I’m not good at explaining this sort of thing. Time is better at it. He’s the one-eyed one,” he added.

Link let his gaze travel upwards. “Is Time with you right now?” he asked nervously. The one-eyed man was easily the most intimidating of the group. Link didn’t want to have a long conversation with him anytime soon.

“Uh... yeah, but he sent me down alone so you wouldn’t freak out as much,” the ‘hero’ explained.

Link narrowed his eyes when he thought he caught the glimpse of someone peering over the staircase’s railing from above. So the others were up there, huh? He turned his attention back to the ‘Hero of Wind.’ “How did you guys get here before us?”

“Oh- well- there are these portals that sometimes open up to take us to a different point in time and today it led us to your era. After you ran off a portal opened and took us up there,” the ‘hero’ pointed upwards, towards where Link had seen one of the other ‘heroes’. “The portals are how we all met each other,” he continued. “We’ve been travelling together for quite a while now so we were really surprised to find out there was another hero we hadn’t found, since the rest of us all encountered each other within the span of a month or two.”

“Hm.” Link was still suspicious, but he supposed that the portals could exist. After all, he and Zelda had travelled through portals before -though Ferrus called them space-time gates- that allowed them to break the space-time continuum and arrive at a different location.

Zelda must have been thinking the same thing, because she spoke up. “We have portal-like things scattered across the continent. I think I understand what you’re saying. It’s like those, but instead of changing locations it changes eras.”

Link found himself agreeing. “That makes sense, I guess. I’ll still need a clearer explanation, though,” he added, eyes narrowed.

The ‘hero’ nodded. “I can introduce you to the others and they can tell you more. If you want to meet them one at a time that’s fine,” he offered.

Link glanced at Zelda, who smiled and nodded. “Alright. We’re ready to meet your friends.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter but I tried 😅

Link has said he was ready, but he soon found out that he wasn’t. He’d gone for the one-at-a-time option but he still felt overwhelmed by the time he’d been introduced to everyone, who, it turned out, were all named Link as well. Which would’ve been confusing, but thankfully they’d all come up with nicknames to differentiate themselves. 

The one who went by Hyrule was pretty eager for Link to choose a nickname as well. He was excited to meet Link and Zelda and asked them questions about themselves, like how old they were and how long they’d known each other and what was their favorite color?

Thankfully the one called Sky told Link that he could take as long as he needed to pick a name. Link liked Sky; he was very kind and patient. He let Link hold his sword -the Master Sword was its title, but Sky said _her_ name was Fi- and it glowed softly when he held it aloft. Link had no idea what that meant but Sky seemed pleased with it.

The one who looked the most like Link went by Wind, as it was part of his hero title. He seemed pretty excited -albeit a bit nervous- to have a new companion that was none other than his successor. He asked a lot of questions about New Hyrule, which Link and Zelda did their best to answer.

Link had made sure to apologize to the pink-haired hero, the one they called Legend. Legend had said it was no big deal, and had complimented Link on his strength. He didn’t say much more.

The one called Twilight immediately went into a protective mode when he saw the thin whip-like scars on what little he could see of Link's arms between his sleeves and gloves and demanded to know who had hurt him. Link assured him it had just been a monster, which was true; Phytops had been a pain to dodge. That didn't seem to ease Twilight much.

Four seemed pretty nice, though Link couldn't figure out why on earth his nickname was a number. Was it because he had four colors on his tunic? He didn’t ask.

The one called Wild was covered in scars and a mess of tangled hair but he was really friendly. Though, despite Wild's insisting, Link wasn't sure if explosions were the answer to _everything…_

Warriors complimented Zelda on her beauty -though he seemed a bit unnerved by her eyes- and welcomed Link to the group. He warned them to not tease Four about his height. Apparently he'd once received a dislocated knee for doing so. He also warned them to be nice to Sky's sword. In fact, he gave them warnings about all his companions. Apparently Legend was the most likely to murder you in your sleep. Link didn’t need to know that.

Time, the scary one-eyed man, was able to explain things to Link and Zelda. They were still confused, but a bit less so now. Zelda commented that she sensed that all the heroes shared a similar, if not the same, spirit, which helped ease Link’s mind about whether or not he could trust them.

Not long after Time had finished telling them all he could, a swirling purple mass appeared on the steps further down from the heroes and princess.

“And there’s our cue,” Hyrule muttered, somewhat irritably. “I was hoping we’d at least be able to spend the night here.”

“That’s what the portals look like?” Link asked, studying the archway that had materialized. The center was swirling in a way that was similar to the space-time gates but it looked much more foreboding.

Time nodded. “And since you’re with us this time it will probably take us to someone else’s era.”

Link eyed the unpredictable portal nervously. At least he knew where the space-time gates would spit him out. The thought of traveling through time and arriving in a completely different world scared him. “Do you know how long it will be before we return to my era?” he asked no one in particular.

A few of the heroes shrugged or shook their heads.

“We haven’t been able to discern a pattern. Sometimes we change eras multiple times a week, sometimes we stay in one for over a month,” Four spoke up. “And even when we do return to our eras it rarely takes us to the same location as before. Next time we come to your era it’s unlikely that the portal will take us back to Castle Town, or in this tower.”

Link frowned slightly. So even if they returned there was a chance that he wouldn’t be able to see Zelda again. He gripped the princess’s hand tightly. He hadn’t let go since he’d dragged her from the castle and he was in no hurry to do so now.

“Can Zelda come with us?” he asked tentatively.

Time furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It will be dangerous. It’s not safe for a young girl like her.”

 _“Excuse me??”_ Link and Zelda fumed at the same time.

“First off, she’s about as old as me, and I don’t see you insisting _I_ stay behind because it’s ‘too dangerous.’ And second, I would have _died_ in this tower on _countless_ occasions if not for Zelda. She can handle herself perfectly fine!” Link insisted.

Zelda nodded sharply. “I know how to fight.”

“She’s a monster when it comes to archery,” Link agreed.

Time held up his hands to cut them off. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. And I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself, but don’t you have a kingdom to run?”

Zelda hesitated. “I’m sure Teacher could take care of it while I’m gone...”

Link would have agreed with her, but, “Teacher nearly had a heart attack last time you disappeared,” he pointed out. “And he wouldn’t stop looking for you. I don’t think he’d be able to focus on running the kingdom if you’re gone.”

Zelda sighed sadly. “I know… I just want to be able to watch your back, like last time.” She squeezed Link’s hand.

Twilight put a hand on Zelda’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Zelda. We’ll watch his back for you,” he assured her, smiling.

Zelda gave a strained smile in return, then cast a wary look at the portal before turning back to Link. Much to Link’s disappointment she released her grip on his hand and pulled back slightly. “Kneel down for a moment,” she ordered.

Link blinked in confusion, but did as she asked, getting down onto one knee as he had nearly two years ago, his head bowed respectfully. He felt Zelda pull his engineer’s cap off his head. Link shifted to look up but his head was pushed back down. A few moments later Zelda set something in his hair and messed around with it for a bit.

“Alright, you can get up now,” Zelda said as she stepped back. 

Link stood and looked at the princess. She was wearing Link’s cap, which looked a bit funny on her since it didn’t match the rest of the outfit, but she didn’t seem to care. Link then patted his hair, trying to figure out what Zelda had been doing with it. He felt something metal on his head, and then realized with a start that Zelda was no longer wearing her circlet.

“Zelda, I can’t wear this!” Link blurted out, trying to untangle the accessory from his hair. “It’s meant for royalty!”

Zelda grabbed Link’s hands to stop him from pulling the circlet off. “I’m giving you permission to wear it,” she insisted. “I have a spare one I can use while you’re gone.”

Link looked at the ground, not wanting to meet Zelda’s eyes. “So you’re not coming?” he asked quietly.

Zelda pulled Link into a hug. “No, not this time. But I’ll be waiting eagerly for your return. Besides,” she pulled away and mimicked shooting an arrow, “someone’s got to keep the kingdom safe while you’re gone.” She flashed him a smile.

Link returned the smile sadly, then hugged her again, tightly. He did his best to keep the tears in his eyes from falling. Zelda hugged him back. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she teased. Link let out a slight chuckle. “You, too. Don’t set your paperwork on fire again.”

“Yes set your paperwork on fire again!” Wild encouraged from nearby, causing Link and Zelda to laugh.

“Alright, Link, we’d better get going,” Time interrupted. “The portal is getting impatient.”

Link gave Zelda a tight squeeze before letting go, his eyes wet. Zelda’s eyes were glistening, too, but neither of them would let their tears fall. Not yet, at least.

Link turned back to the portal and understood what Time meant by it was ‘getting impatient.’ It had expanded in size and moved closer, threatening to suck them in by force if they didn’t get a move on. Link nodded to Time to let him know he was ready. 

Sky took Link’s hand in his. “We can go in together,” he offered. Link flashed him a grateful smile as the other heroes stepped into the swirling archway. Soon only Time, Sky, Link, and Zelda were left. Sky gently tugged on Link’s hand and stepped forward. 

With one last look over his shoulder at his princess, Link stepped into nothingness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how the heck do you write romance lol


End file.
